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THE HOTHAMS. 199
accepted, in what language I cannot say, but in words which told him that
while she would not be his wife for mere mercenary considerations, she
cordially reciprocated the love which he so evidently entertained for her.
And there is yet another equally touching episode recorded of their
younger son, Beaumont Hotham. When he arrived at man's estate he
went out to Holland to seek his fortune, and became clerk in the house
of a wealthy merchant, who was so much pleased with his intelligence and
industry that he offered to receive him into partnership if he would marry
his daughter. But Beaumont Hotham had already fixed his affections
on
Frances, daughter of William Thompson of Humbleton, and declined
the offer. The merchant, however, pleased with his constancy, agreed to
receive him into partnership
nevertheless. But a commercial crisis soon
after arose, and, being involved in the famous " South Sea Bubble," the
house of business failed. Young Hotham returned to England, a penniless
man, only to learn on reaching home that his intended wife had been
stricken with the small-pox, that frequent scourge of former generations,
and had quite lost her " beauty. I loved her for herself," he " replied, and
"
am as ready to marry her as ever." The marriage proved a long and
happy union ;
and a letter is still preserved, in her handwriting, to him
absent from home, when stricken with a mortal sickness, which testifies
to the integrity of her character.
Their three sons inherited their parents' worth. Sir Charles, the eldest
who inherited the baronetcy from his cousin Sir Charles, gentleman of the
bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, dying without issue became a
General in the army and a Knight of the Bath. John, the second, who
succeeded him in the baronetcy, attained to be Bishop of Clogher.
William,
the third, rose to be an Admiral of the Blue, and was created Baron Hotham
for his gallant victory over the French squadron, March, 1795. Beaumont,
the youngest, was appointed one of the Barons of the Exchequer ; and
inheriting the titles of his elder brothers, they have passed through his
descendants to the present generation.